World Boxing chief visits Barbados

Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu, IOC Executive Board Member and President of AIBA, the world international boxing body, recently visited Barbados for the Caribbean Development Boxing Tournament, which was part of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc.’s (BOA) 50th Indepen-dence Anniversary Games.

 

Dr. Wu’s primary purpose on the island was to meet with regional boxing heads to discuss the problems facing regional boxing. He was accompanied by his Executive Director, William Louis-Marie.

 

The regional caucus was held at the Barbados Olympic Centre on Sunday, December 11, hosted by BOA President, Steve Stoute, SCM.In welcoming the international and regional delegates to the Barbados Olympic Centre, Mr. Stoute, in his opening remarks, indicated that in 2014, he had written to Dr. Wu, expressing concern for the need for more boxing competitions within the region.

 

Stoute indicated that many of the qualifying tournaments for various Games were in distant locations and very expensive to access. He opined that the lack of regional tournaments greatly reduced the competition available to Caribbean boxers and has contributed to a dramatic reduction in the standard of Caribbean boxing. He indicated that he had pleaded with Dr. Wu to visit Barbados with a view to discussing in person, the various problems impacting regional boxing and thus, he was extremely pleased that the President and his team had accepted the invitation.

 

Regional delegates expressed concern that AIBA had mandated that the Caribbean Amateur Boxing Association be disbanded and were of the view that the demise of this regional body had impaired the standard of boxing in the Caribbean.

 

Dr. Wu indicated that it was not AIBA’s policy to permit regional boxing bodies. He said each con-tinent had a governing umbrella body whose mandate was to assist all countries in a specific continent. However, he indicated that the recent boxing tournament held in Barbados should be an annual event which would be recognised by AIBA, and in the future AIBA would provide financial support. He said that during these annual championships, there should be an assembly of all regional boxing delegates, at which time any problems and concerns could be discussed.  

 

He further indicated that Caribbean countries should work together to hold inter-territorial tournaments and AIBA would be prepared to designate some of these events as qualifiers for Games such as Pan American, Central American and Caribbean, and Olympic. It was his view that the Caribbean had great boxing talent and AIBA would work with the region to ensure this is nurtured and developed.

 

He lauded the Barbados Boxing Association (BBA), headed by Captain Anthony Jones and Secretary Kathy Harper-Hall, for the excellent work in organising the recent tournament and thanked the Barbados Olympic Association, Inc. for their continued support and patronage.

 

Dr. Wu later participated in the BOA’s 50th Anniversary of Independence Games Closing Ceremony, presenting a number of awards to boxers and athletes from other sports.